cp1 Am wichtigsten / Most important

(** B K P)

Film: Yemen: Europe's Lethal Exports

Britain, France and Germany all sell arms to Saudia Arabia making these governments possibly complicit in war crimes in Yemen. Focus on the highly lucrative and murky world of the international arms trade.

Remark by Judith Brown: Taiz - it has been one of the worst places to live in this horrible war. I hear that some citizens work a day shift fighting for one side and a night shift working for the other - war is the only employer in these sorts of places. And recently the two main local militias, Islah and Abu Abbas Brigades - both ostensibly on the same 'side' were fighting each other.

While media coverage and diplomatic concern for the conflict have been growing, Taiz seems to have been neglected. The country’s third-largest city is cut in half by a battle line which separates the Houthists from their adversaries made up of various groups and factions loyal to President Hadi. These are backed by an Arab military coalition led by two countries which are particularly active on the Yemenite theatre of operations, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Even before this coalition came into being, the city suffered early in 2015 Houthist incursions to repress peaceful demonstrations against their seizure of power in Sana and invasion of South Yemen. For a long time, Houthi rebel forces were stationed in the heart of the city.

After four years of fierce fighting, Taiz is no doubt the city which has suffered the worse destructions. Several videos shot from drones, evocative of the worst Syrian examples, attest to this. Buildings are so marked by bullet holes, mortar shells and bomb shrapnel that the few foreign reporters who have been there describe what they saw as a “lunar” spectacle. The civilians, most of whom oppose the rebellion, are the main victims of the fighting, especially from snipers but also booby traps.1 Here, only a limited share of the destruction can be attributed to the coalition’s air raids.

In 2016, after having partially lifted the siege imposed by the Houthists from the highlands to the North with the support of the coalition’s air strikes, the city dwellers remained under the yoke of the various armed factions. For indeed, the rebels are entrenched in the mountains overlooking Taiz, blocking the Eastern and Western accesses. Still today the only way out of the city is to the Souhwest, through Hujariyya and across the mountains to Aden. For a few weeks now, the fighting has begun again and this route may soon be cut off as well. The Houthists have recently repositioned themselves along the southern route and regained some ground in the vicinity of Dhalea.

The strategic marginalisation of the city has generated powerful discontent among the population which has made it easy for Islamists and other armed groups to recruit young men, as well as their manipulation by neighbouring countries – by Mustafa Naji

The Ministry of Public Health and Population of Yemen reported 18,171 suspected cases of cholera with 13 associated deaths during epidemiological week 18 (29 April – 5 May) of 2019. Fifteen percent of cases were severe. The cumulative total number of suspected cholera cases from 1 January 2018 to 28 April 2019 is 668,891 with 1,081 associated deaths (CFR 0.16%). Children under five represent 22.7% of total suspected cases during 2019. The outbreak has affected 22 of 23 governorates and 294 of 333 districts in Yemen.

From week 8 in 2019, the trend of weekly reported suspected cholera cases started increasing and reached a peak of more than 29500 cases in week 14. During weeks 15 to 18 new case numbers began to fall, although it is too early to conclude a downward trend. The decline may be attributed to enhanced efforts to control the outbreak such as enhancement in the community engagement and WaSH activities, and scaling up of response by WHO and partners, including establishing of additional DTCs and ORCs. Another factor is the first round of the OCV campaign which took place in April in 3 districts of Amanat Al Asimah Governorate, reaching 1,088,101 people (88% of the target).

Antibiotic resistance in conflict settings: lessons learned in the Middle East

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has designed context-adapted antibiotic resistance (ABR) responses in countries across the Middle East. There, some health systems have been severely damaged by conflict resulting in delayed access to care, crowded facilities and supply shortages. Microbiological surveillance data are rarely available, but when MSF laboratories are installed we often find MDR bacteria at alarming levels.1

Yemen’s government wants the United Nations to give time-frames for next steps of a peace deal after Houthi forces began withdrawing from key ports in the most significant advance yet for efforts to end the four-year war and relieve hunger.

Local coast guards have taken over security at the Saleef, Ras Isa and Hodeidah ports, according to the United Nations which is supervising operations there.

Some officials from the Saudi-backed, internationally recognized Yemeni government dismissed the pullout as a “show”, but government negotiator Sadiq Dweid acknowledged it marked the start of implementing the Stockholm accord.

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, leaders of the coalition backing President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi’s government, have so far not commented on the Houthi ports withdrawal.

Sources saw this as a sign U.N. envoy Martin Griffiths had managed to get the warring sides to agree to the plan, since the coalition had quickly rejected a previous attempt by the Houthis to unilaterally withdraw last December.

Under plans to avert a full-scale assault, the Houthis are to pull back five km (three miles) from the ports between May 11 and 14. Coalition forces, currently massed four km from Hodeidah port on the edges of the city, are to retreat one km from two flashpoint districts.

In a second phase, both sides would pull troops 18 km outside the city and move heavy weapons 30 km away.

Yemeni National Army spokesman Brigadier General Abdo Abdullah Majali hinted that the legitimacy would resort to other options if diplomatic efforts fail to push Houthis into pulling out from the three ports. He told Asharq Al-Awsat on Monday that the National Army is on alert to protect its military positions in Hodeidah province, under the directives of the Armed Forces commander. “In case the UN clearly announces that Houthis have obstructed the peace process, the National Army will take the necessary military measures to liberate Hodeidah province,” the spokesman said. Majali added that the Army possesses a special force trained in urban fighting to accurately hit targets, while protecting civilians and vital installations. He accused Houthis of taking part in a “ridiculous play” in Hodeidah.

The United Nations said it will report Tuesday on whether rebel forces in Yemen carried out a key first step in the redeployment of forces from three key ports, and is moving ahead to discuss the issues of management and use of revenues from the ports.

U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters Monday that "all three ports were monitored simultaneously by United Nations teams as the military forces left the ports and the Coast Guard took over responsibility for security."

Lt. Gen. Michael Lollesgaard, the head of a UN mission overseeing the ceasefire in the Yemeni city of Hodeidah, announced that the first day of the withdrawal of Houthi militias from three ports went "in accordance with established plans,” adding that monitors will verify the pullout on Tuesday. "All three ports were monitored simultaneously by United Nations teams as the military forces left the ports and the Coast Guard took over responsibility for security," said a statement issued by the UN Mission to Support the Hodeidah Agreement (UNMHA) on Sunday. It added that the coming days will witness demining operations.

Meanwhile, West coast liberation operations spokesman Waddah al-Dbish told Asharq Al-Awsat Sunday that UN monitors began arriving in Hodeidah. He said the monitors are expected to allow the entry of observers from the government team to verify the militias’ pullout. “Now, the withdrawal is not unilateral anymore,” Dbish said, adding that it became part of the first phase of the redeployment plan in Hodeidah and its three ports. “A meeting was held two days ago between Lollesgaard and the government team to discuss aspects of the withdrawal within a certain timeframe and to activate the UN role in Hodeidah,” he said.

The Danish general Lolisgaard arrived in Aden on Monday to meet with the government team in conjunction with the announcement by the Houthi militants to begin withdrawal from the Saleef and Ras Issa ports.

The first phase of redeployment at the ports of Hodeidah ended on Monday. The head of the Coordination and Redeployment Committee, General Michael Lollesgaard, praised the national team in the Joint Commission to facilitate the completion of the redeployment phase. The deputy head of the UN Coordination Team in Hodeidah, Janez Fernandes, confirmed that they had no difficulties in verifying and supervising the redeployment and positioning of the ports of Hodeidah.

Deputy chief of Staff, Major General Ali Hamoud Al-Mushaki, said that the Coast Guard forces have took over the ports of Hodeidah from the Army and Popular Committees and is concerned solely with protecting it

Film: UN team continues to inspect Hudaydah’s ports and monitor the redeployment

Yemen | UN team continues to inspect Hudaydah’s ports and monitor the redeployment The UN mission to Yemen continues to inspect Hudaydah's Salif and Ras Issa ports, west of Yemen, for the second day in a row, where the UN team took a field tour around the two ports, which had been previously evacuated by the Houthis, with the aim of making sure there were no military presence in the area, and to monitor the one-sided redeployment in both ports.

As military and security forces leave Hodeidah, Ras al-Isa and Salif ports, the United Nations Development Programme is ready to help improve the efficiency and productivity of the ports.

“Hodeidah port is the lifeline for the north of Yemen,” said Ms. Lise Grande, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen.

“Upgrading the facilities at the ports is urgent,” said Ms. Grande. “It is a race against time to move food, fuel, medicines and other vital commodities as quickly and smoothly as possible to the millions of people across the country who depend on humanitarian assistance.”

As soon as redeployment is complete, UNDP will help to upgrade port facilities including watch towers, berths and the navigation channels.

“This is phase one of our critical efforts to restore normal operations at these ports,” said Auke Lootsma, UNDP Yemen’s Resident Representative. “We are drawing upon our extensive experience, as well as national and international expertise, to ensure we can fully restore the functionality of the ports as soon as possible.”

As the #Hodeidah ports open, @UNDP & the @UN will work with our partner #YEMAC on #mine clearance to ensure the ports are safe for #humanitarian assistance to arrive in #Yemen. Up to 80 per cent of the assistance comes through these ports.

According to the Ansarullah officials, the ports were handed over to coastguard personnel who are now in charge. However, leaders of Saudi-backed forces still claim the pullout is “a flagrant show”. They go on to claim that “it's an attempt to misinform the international community ahead of a meeting of the UN Security Council.”

These statements speak for themselves. The Saudis and their allies are still not ready for dialogue and peace, despite UN warning that the country is in urgent need of international humanitarian aid. Hodeida, the fourth-largest city in Yemen and its port plays a crucial role in allowing food to be imported into the country. The UN has wanted to place the port under its control due to the humanitarian crisis caused by the conflict and that’s precisely why the Ansarullah forces decided to withdraw.

The withdrawal should now make sure humanitarian aid could be delivered to millions of civilians who are still trapped in war-torn regions of the country and in dire need of food and medical assistance.

Sadly enough, the same cannot be said about the Saudis, their coalition and the United States.

My remark: This is a view from Iran. – and offivcially from Iran: (A P)

Iran: Stockholm agreement prelude to find solution for Yemen

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Abbas Mousavi reiterated that Iran's support for Stockholm agreement on Yemen, saying its implementation is a prelude for achieving final and comprehensive political solution.

Abbas Mousavi described as constructive the unilateral withdrawal of Yemeni National Salvation Government forces from three ports of Al Hudaydah, Ras Isa and As-Salif. Sana'a act in line with Stockholm agreement indicates determination and commitment of Yemeni National Salvation Government to negotiations and also sabotage and lack of commitment of the Saudi coalition, he added.

So far, there has been no redeployment by forces supporting the internationally-recognised government of Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi. The government is clearly suspicious about the Houthis' intentions, so the UN will need to convince it that the Houthis have really left the three ports.

According to the UN statement, the government has "expressed commitment" to fulfil its side of the bargain when the UN asks it to do so, but it's unlikely the de-escalation will proceed further unless/until the government's fears have been allayed.

It's unclear whether either side really wants this process to succeed but the government's wariness is not without foundation.

News photos on Sunday (see above) showed Houthi fighters in Salif port apparently handing over to men in Yemeni coast guard uniform but the question raised by the government is whether these "coast guards" are Houthi supporters in disguise.

This suspicion is based on earlier incidents described by Peter Salisbury in an articlefor the International Crisis Group

The United Nations monitoring team in Yemen on Sunday verified Houthi withdrawal from three ports of Hodeidah.

"The first day of the redeployment of Houthi forces from the three ports of Hodeidah, Salif and Ras-Issa went in accordance with established plans," Michael Lollesgaard, chair of the Redeployment Coordination Committee, said in a statement.

"All three ports were monitored simultaneously by UN teams as the military forces left the ports and the Coast Guard took over responsibility for security," Lollesgaard said in the statement by the office of the UN Special Envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths.

"The formal verification by the UN of this first redeployment will take place at the three ports on Tuesday," he added.

Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah movement has urged the United Nations and its Security Council to pressure Yemen’s Saudi-backed former government to pull out its forces from the city of Hudaydah and two other Red Sea ports after Houthi fighters unilaterally began withdrawing from two of the ports according to a UN-brokered agreement.

The movement’s spokesman Mohammed Abdulsalam on Saturday strongly called on the UN and the UNSC to “prove, even once,” their “credibility on the ground” by pressuring the so-called government, led by Yemen’s ex-president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, to pull out its forces from the key ports of Hudaydah, Salif and Ras Isa.

The UN confirmed a withdrawal by Yemen's Huthi rebels from three Red Sea ports had begun Saturday, while a senior pro-government official accused the rebels of faking the pullout.

The rebel pullback is a first step in implementing a hard-won ceasefire deal reached between Yemen's internationally-recognised government and the Iran-backed Huthi rebels late last year.

"Yes, it has begun," said UN spokesman Farhan Haq, when AFP asked whether redeployment of Huthi troops was underway.

Sources close to the Huthis said that the ports were handed over to coastguard personnel who were in charge before the rebels took over almost five years ago.

An AFP photographer at Saleef port saw Huthi troops leave the facility, and men dressed in coastguard uniforms enter, adding that these movements were observed by the UN.

But the govenor of Hodeida, Al-Hasan Taher, said the Huthis were merely reshuffling personnel.

"The Huthis are staging a new ploy by handing over the ports of Hodeida, Saleef and Ras Issa to themselves without any monitoring by the United Nations and the government side," the government-appointed official said.

UN envoy "Martin Griffiths wants to achieve victory even if the Huthis hand over (the ports) to themselves," Taher said.

"This is totally rejected by us, and the agreement must be implemented in full, especially with regards to the identity of the troops that will take over from the Huthis," he added.

My comment: Hadi government’s governor. – The Hadi government wants to take control of these harbours by this way, insisting on personal loyal to it. The Houthi government rejects this. The civic administration should remain in its hands, just the three cities should be demilitarized. The Sweden agreement in fact did not tell that the sovereignty in any of these three cities should change form one Yemeni government to the other.

(* A K P)

Film: The War in Yemen: UN: Houthis' withdrawal proceeding as planned

The United Nations says the Houthi rebels' withdrawal from Yemen's key port city of Hudaida, is proceeding as planned, after the government accused the Houthis of faking the pullout.

UN: al-Houthi withdrawal from Hodeidah ports according to plans and government committed to implementation

The withdrawal of Houthi militants from the port of Hodeidah (western Yemen) has proceeded according to plans, the United Nations announced Sunday.

The head of the UN Redeployment Coordination Committee, Danish General Michael Lolisgaard, said in a statement distributed to the media that the first day of the redeployment of the Houthis forces had been carried out in accordance with the plans, and that the three ports had been simultaneously monitored (Al-Saleef, Ras Issa, and Hodeidah) from United Nations teams were accepted when military forces were discharged from the ports and the "Coast Guard" assumed responsibility for security.

According to the Lolisgaard statement, activities in the coming days are expected to focus on the removal of armed manifestations and demining, and he confirmed that the United Nations will carry out the official verification of the first phase of the redeployment operation on Tuesday.

Jeremy Hunt, British FM: Encouraging signs from the worst humanitarian crisis in the world with reports that Houthis beginning to withdraw (under UN supervision) from the Yemeni ports of Hodeidah, Saleef and Ras Issa. Vital this happens in full (photos from Hodeidah)

Michael Aron, UK ambassador to Yemen: The Yemeni cynics who criticize everything the other side does even if it is positive and who say the UN are naive seem to be saying the only solution is perpetual war in Yemen. I have more faith in Yemenis and believe they can live together in peace and security.

Deep distrust between warring parties has stalled this deal for months and continues to plague this first unilateral step by the Houthis.

A pullout from the ports is a move of least risk for the Houthis in this strategic corner. They've reinforced in the city of Hudaydah in recent months and can find other means to replace lost revenue. Many of the Coast Guard and port officials are regarded as civil servants who, if this pullout is completed, will run the ports with UN experts.

But the Yemeni government suspects the Houthis of moving militia into ports posing as ordinary workers. They're dismissing this unilateral pullout as a ploy.

The UN's emphasis, since the Stockholm deal, is on monitoring, not trust. Its patrols are now in place.

If this step is deemed genuine, it could create conditions for a wider redeployment of forces from all sides. If it isn't, it could mean the end of what's regarded as the best chance to move toward peace.

"The (Sweden) agreement is very difficult to execute because the lines are blurry and each side interprets it the way it wants to," said Yemen expert Farea al-Muslimi, a visiting fellow at the London-based Chatham House think tank.

"Overall, the next two weeks will show if this is a handover or a yet another hangover," he told AFP.

According to Adam Baron, a Yemen expert at the European Council on Foreign Relations think tank, the Huthi withdrawal represents a "potential breakthrough".

"That being said, it remains to be seen how significant it can truly be," he told AFP.

"Trust between both parties borders on non-existent, something that continues to hamper any efforts toward deconfliction.

"Even an implementation of the deal only signals progress on one part of the deal and one aspect of the conflict. It's key to remember that Yemen is not Hodeida and even amidst the relative calming there, the conflict continues to burn."

"The agreement in Sweden only stopped the fighting in Hodeida, the challenge is to turn it into an all-inclusive national agreement," said Muslimi.

My remark: A general overview, and voices of experts. – “Daily Mail” took another headline than AFP when adopting the AFP text: “Yemen government blasts rebel 'deception' over port pullout”. This might tell more about “Daily Mail” than nearly anything else.

Yemeni political experts believe that the Houthi sudden decision to unilaterally withdraw from Hodeidah's key ports will not really happen as both warring sides still prepare for upcoming armed confrontations in Hodeidah.

"Both warring sides are continuing in building fortifications and sending military reinforcements to the frontlines in Hodeidah till this moment. There are no clear signs for de-escalation or real desire for withdrawal," Ali Hadi, Aden-based military observer, told Xinhua.

He said that the Houthi fighters continued in digging underground trenches and planting landmines randomly in and around farms or residential areas, paving the way for another military escalation instead of the unilateral withdrawal.

Adil Al-Shujaa, politics professor from Sanaa university, told Xinhua that the Houthis don't really intend to leave Hodeidah and deliberately offered the unilateral withdrawal from the city's ports just to gain more time.

"The Houthis are manipulating through choosing this unilateral announcement. Avoiding to implement all provisions of the Stockholm Agreement proves that Houthis are not serious with their withdrawal from Hodeidah," Al-Shujaa said.

Yemen’s Houthi movement on Saturday started withdrawing forces from Saleef port in Hodeidah under a U.N.-sponsored deal stalled for months, a Reuters witness said, reviving hopes for peace efforts to end the four-year war.

But a minister in the Yemeni government backed by Saudi Arabia dismissed the Iran-aligned Houthis’ pullout as a “show” meant to “misinform the international community”.

U.N. teams were overseeing the Houthi redeployment in Saleef, used for grain, as other teams headed to the second port of Ras Isa, used for oil, to start implementing the withdrawal from there, according to the witness.

A dozen trucks carrying Houthi fighters, armed with rocket-propelled grenade launchers and machine guns, departed from Saleef. Two ships were docked at the port and operations were running normally, said the witness who was at the facility.

“The coast guards have taken over in Saleef,” he said. “They and U.N. officials have started checking equipment at the port.”

“It’s an attempt to misinform the international community ahead of a meeting of the U.N. Security Council” on Yemen, he said. “A group of (Houthi) militiamen left and they were replaced by others wearing coast guard police uniforms.”

Ansarullah's Political Bureau praises redeployment of army, popular committees in Hodeidah

“This unilateral step reflects the seriousness of the national party to implement Stockholm Agreement and its keenness on the success of the peace efforts and to spare Hodeidah’ residents the scourge of aggression and its disastrous effects,” the Bureau said in a statement.

WHY YEMEN’S ARMY FORCES WITHDREW FROM THREE PORTS IN HODEIDAH, AL-HOUTHI EXPLAINS

“The decision to withdraw came as a result of the refusal of the US-British-Saudi-Emirati aggression and its allies to implement the Stockholm Agreement, which paves the way for peace,” Mohammed Ali al-Houthi Said in Tweet on Saturday.

cp2 Allgemein / General

Amid the developing advance by Ansar Allah and its allies on positions of Saudi-led forces in the province of Dhale, more and more speculations appear suggesting that in the event of success the Yemeni resistance may launch a push towards the southern port city of Aden.

"What the Saudis did to get rid of the Houthis was just bomb all of Yemen," Michael said, and "the U.S. supported Saudi Arabia from day one."

Michael was motivated, in part, by the mainstream media's inability (or unwillingness) to cover the conflict from a broader angle.

"When it comes to the media there wasn't much attention to the campaign on the country," she said. But even when there was, "we saw the story missing so many elements." Namely, the war was told almost exclusively through the eyes of the Saudi regime and rarely looked outside the rigid context of the 'Hadi government v. Houthi rebels' narrative.

She wanted to document the struggles faced by ordinary people who had no part in the violence but who were made to suffer the most.

On the front line of forgotten war in Yemen where a child dies every 12 minutes

EXCLUSIVE: The Daily Mirror's Chief Reporter has travelled to Yemen and reports on the suffering of those caught up in the horrifying conflict

Lying on the floor of his makeshift shack in a refugee camp, disabled Adbul Nasser is close to tears as he tells how he and his family had to flee their home or starve to death.

The 83-year-old, wife Faza and their 25 grandchildren are yet more innocent victims of a civil war raging in Yemen that has caused what aid agencies call “the world’s worst humanitarian crisis”.

A child dies here from hunger every 12 minutes – that is 120 a day – in a famine as devastating as the Ethiopian one in 1984 that sparked the Live Aid concert. Staples such as milk and bread are now being described as “luxuries”

Abdul is a broken man. He does not care who started the war that has been ravaging the country since 2014, he just knows it has shattered his once happy family life.

As he talks, his grandchildren buzz around the place – unaware how lucky they are to be alive.

Abdul, who is so frail he had to be carried from minibus to minibus during the perilous journey from his home in a Houthi-held region, added: “Before the war started we were a large happy peaceful family with no problems.

“But now it impossible to survive living there. We were starving and we had to move. Even the food we had was taken from us to give to friends of the soldiers.

“I cannot believe what has happened to Yemen and to my country.” A relative said: “We never thought we would end up living in a refugee camp.

“Life wasn’t easy before but at least we had some food. We did not go to bed hungry. We had to leave to survive. Everyone is hungry and everyone is struggling it’s a nightmare.

“It’s not the sort of life you want your children and family to have.”

We found three young mums who had also fled to the camp, in the government held region. One, Omahend from the capital Sanaa, said: “We were hungry all the time. The men are kidnapped and taken away so there’s no income coming in. The food prices are so shocking.

“Even mothers I know are missing meals and going hungry just to give their children some food and they are still hungry anyway. We all have to make sacrifices every day for years. Things like bread and milk are like luxuries – by Andy Lines and Phil Coburn (photos, film)

Jubilation over the milestone agreement in Sweden last December has shifted to concern over its possible collapse

Five months after the highly praised handshake between the different sides of the conflict at the Yemen summit in Stockholm, UN envoy Martin Griffiths remains optimistic about the ongoing stalemate.

Briefing the Security Council in April, he praised both sides for accepting phase one of the agreed-upon plan for the redeployment of Houthi and government forces from the key port city of Hodeidah.

But on the ground, his efforts have been thwarted by Houthi obstruction and President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi’s shifting priorities.

Swedish diplomats have made significant efforts to rally support from Yemen’s government and the Saudi-led coalition, but these efforts have fallen short of expectations, as the US and UK remain on the sidelines.

Headlines have shifted from jubilation over the milestone Stockholm gathering in December, to caution over its shaky start, to finally acknowledging the possibility of complete collapse.

The Stockholm deal focused on three key issues: Hodeidah, the Taiz humanitarian corridor, and prisoner exchange.

On the latter issue, mediation through the Red Cross stalled in early February amid differences in the prisoner lists submitted by the warring sides, and also due to allegations that certain names on the government list were linked to al-Qaeda.

On Taiz, there has been no progres

The expected ceasefire in Hodeidah, a demand in the lead-up to talks, never materialised on the ground, with the Houthis complaining of violations by the coalition and pro-government forces. At the same time, in a letter made public in February, the Yemeni government and its coalition partners complained to the UN Security Council of repeated Houthi violations.

Yemen’s government and its coalition partners want to isolate the Houthis and remove their access to the Red Sea to curb smuggling routes. The Houthis have used Ras Isa, a port north of Hodeidah, to offload fuel for their markets, representing a major source of income and a means of maintaining patronage networks and funding war efforts.

At the same time, the UN and other aid agencies aim to stabilise the flow of ships into the port to improve the delivery of aid and commercial goods – by Fernando Carvajal

cp3 Humanitäre Lage / Humanitarian situation

Several human rights activists in Yemen have launched an online campaign to demand transparency, including the publication of financial statements by aid organizations to show how they are distributing the aid they receive for Yemen. The "Where is the money" campaign has been active for a month, and activists say it will continue until its goal is reached.

The move came after Reem al-Hashimi, the United Arab Emirates' minister of state for international cooperation, announced at an April 8 press conference that his government and Saudi Arabia had to date provided more than $18 billion worth of aid to Yemen.

At a February donor conference for Yemen in Geneva, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had said that donors had increased their contributions by 30% compared to the last year. According to him, “The largest increases came from Saudi Arabia and the UAE.”

How, then, is the aid failing to benefit Yemenis in need?

Fidaa Yahya, one of the organizers of the transparency campaign, told Al-Monitor, “Yemen received more than $23 billion in aid up until 2019, and there are donor countries that pledged more than $2 billion during the last Geneva conference, held in February. Very few people are benefiting, however, from these funds. We find that most of the organizations in Yemen operate free from any government supervision. This prompted us to launch this campaign and call on all organizations working in Yemen to publish their financial reports.”

Yahya added, “As part of the campaign, more than 2,000 emails have been sent to more than 100 organizations operating in Yemen.” Most of them urge the organizations to publish their financial statements. So far, there have been no official or unofficial responses from either government agencies or private organizations.

A source at the World Food Programme in Yemen who agreed to speak to Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity remarked, “The lack of [response], especially on the part of large international organizations, is due to the fact that their financial system is very transparent and scrutinized by donors. Some imbalances may have been caused by local partners, but I don’t think such imbalances are as major as the campaign envisions.” – by Mohammed Yahya Gahlan

In one remote desert village, the U.S. aid group International Rescue Committee has established a center for teaching skills and empowerment to vulnerable women and girls. Reporter Neha Wadekar visited the village of Raz Amran in January and has this report.

She says she and her daughters are learning new skills so they can get out of poverty and help their family. With her husband sick, Abdulwasi says it is important for women and girls to learn skills to be able to survive and provide for the house.

Abdulwasi and her daughters attend classes in the Al Boureqa Center, founded by the New York-based International Rescue Committee to empower Yemen’s women.

Fairouz Yassin, a caseworker at the center, says about 50 women and girls are trained daily or simply spend time there - a safe space close to home.

For women like Abdulwasi, this is also a chance to break free from Yemen’s conservative cultural norms and enter the workplace for the first time.

Abdulwasi says that before the war, women in Yemen had been forgotten. But when the organizations came to remote areas in Yemen, because of the war, the women and girls were able to advance themselves and their skills.

According to Yassin, the center also provides counseling for gender-based issues and abuse that case workers say has shown a marked increase with the fighting in Yemen.

Yassin says the caseworkers are seeing higher levels of domestic violence due to the pressures men are facing because of the war. M

In 2017, to understand the perceptions of the Yemeni population towards cash transfer programmes, the Cash and Market Working Group (CMWG), in collaboration with REACH, initiated the Inter-Agency Joint Cash Study. The study was designed to determine the suitability of cash-based intervention into the Yemen context, in response to the widespread liquidity shortages, price inflation, and falling of purchasing power. Little evidence was found to determine which method of financial assistance was the most suitable in the context of Yemen. As cash-based programming becomes increasingly prominent in the humanitarian response to the ongoing Yemen conflict, there is a growing need for the humanitarian community to build a more comprehensive understanding of the most suitable methods for delivering cash-based interventions, both in terms of the capacity of financial institutions and the feasibility of different transfer mechanisms. The Financial Service Providers (FSP) Assessment was designed to be a continuation of the CMWG and REACH Inter-Agency Joint Cash Study, with the aim of understanding the most appropriate method of cash-based interventions to be used by humanitarian actors.

Research Scope

The following research questions are addressed in this report:

What is the capacity and experience of financial institutions to facilitate cash-based interventions at the governorate and district level, and what delivery mechanisms are the most used?

Are there any specific groups that are at risk of being excluded from accessing financial assistance due to the lack of identification papers, bank accounts, or electronic communication mechanisms?

What is the speed and cost of delivering cash transfers?

What are institutions’ resilience to change in context, what risks are likely to arise, and what mitigation and monitoring protocols are in place?

What contextual factors will influence the feasibility of each cash delivery modality?

Nisma Mansour had an eventful year graduating as a civil engineer and getting married two weeks later. She says her wedding was a rare chance to escape "all of this drama and tragedy... and just celebrate... life, love and joy".

Fatima al Qubati has a one-year-old son. She worries about the impact of war on him and says children's imaginations are 'all about killing and fighting'. She lives in Taiz, once known as a 'a city of dreamers' but which now lies at the heart of the conflict.

Mona Mohammed Al Khattib had to flee her war-torn city of Taiz to find safety in the mountainside town of Ibb. There, she found a job as maths teacher and she hopes her pupils will have a bright future in a peaceful Yemen where they will become "the best doctors, teachers, engineers, professors, hackers, even, if they want!"

Areen Omar lives in the seaside town of Mukalla which was once controlled by Al Qaeda. She says women were not safe to go out and still suffer from mental health problems. Now that the group have gone, she enjoys going to the park and the beach with her friends.

More than 400 families got today cards from @monarelief's team in Sanaa and Hodeidah to receive food aid baskets. Great thanks to all our backers and donors for their donations. Please keep supporting our efforts to feed starved families in #Yemen

Waking up in a hospital bed in Yemen and see that you are missing a leg

[by Google translator]:

In addition to rehabilitation, prosthetics, wheelchairs or crutches, Humanity & Inclusion offers psychological support to overcome the trauma

Waking up in a hospital bed in Yemen and see that you are missing a leg

Anwar was five years old when he woke up in a hospital and discovered that his leg had been amputated. No one could calm his screams and his crying. The little boy could not understand why his leg was no longer there and he kept asking his relatives if they could give it back to him. The history of Anwar is repeated frequently in Yemen for four years as a result of the civil war in which the country is sunk. Aerial bombings, artillery fire, unexploded ordnance and anti-personnel mines have left at least 16,000 civilians dead, according to data published by the UN in December, and thousands more wounded and mutilated. In his case, he was injured by a metal splinter while fleeing with his family and neighbors from the bombings in Sana'a, the country's capital under the control of the Houthi rebels since September 2014. When he was discharged he was still sore and confused with what had happened to him.

A few months ago, in the life of Anwar, who is now 9 years old, he crossed Humanity & Inclusion (HI), an NGO specialized in working with people with disabilities. He is receiving physiotherapy from a specialist and will be given a prosthesis according to his age, which has given him new hope. In addition, Anwar is receiving psychological support from the HI team. The therapy helps you to calm your anxiety and knowing that you are not the only one who has suffered amputations also makes you feel better. Now, he already plays with other children his age, including football, and studies hard. "I want to be a doctor," he says resoundingly. "I want to help people with disabilities and support my family," he adds.

cp4 Flüchtlinge / Refugees

Siehe / Look at cp1a

(B H)

Yemen | The outflow of African refugees across the Arabian Sea coast to Aden continues Hundreds of African refugees continue to flow through the Arabian Sea to Aden and other provinces on an almost daily basis, with security officials indicating that the authorities are making every effort to assemble thousands of illegal immigrants and return them to their country, calling for the competent bodies and international organizations that who did not provide any support to the Yemeni authorities until now, by providing assistance in the procress of organizing the returning African refugees to the countries.

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said on Saturday that 222 illegal Ethiopian migrants were repatriated from the war-torn Yemen since May 6.

The migrants, who were voluntarily repatriated from Yemen’s capital Sana’a to Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa since on Monday with the help of IOM, were “unable to continue to support themselves or fund their fare home,’’ the UN migration agency said in a statement on Saturday.

“The migrants were left stranded in a country experiencing a deadly conflict,’’ an IOM’s statement read.

According to IOM, the latest flight on Saturday brought back home some 46 Ethiopian nationals, increasing the total number of people assisted in the previous three flights since on Monday to 222.

Key figures: 24.1 M people in need; 3.65 M displaced since March 2015 More than 80 per cent have been displaced more than a year; 1.28 M IDP returnees; 264,921 refugees; 9,557 asylumseekers; Funding USD 198.6 M required for 2019 operations

IDP Emergency Response

UNHCR’s assistance across the country to internally displaced families (IDPs) is on-going. In the south-western flashpoint of Al Dhale’e governorate, where displacement continues, more than 4,404 new internally displaced families have been registered since November 2018. As of the beginning of 2019, 2,000 families have received core-relief items (CRIs), with 512 families benefitting from these emergency provisions during the reporting period.

UNHCR continues to deliver lifesaving emergency assistance in the southern governorates of Ibb and Taizz where there are several active frontlines.

Since January 2019, there have been constant flows of IDPs southwards leaving the flashpoint of Bani Hassan district, 15 kilometres north of Abs district, Hajjah governorate and arriving in the northern districts of Hudaydah.

The northern Amran governorate continues to be a destination point for displaced persons fleeing the northern frontlines.

cp5 Nordjemen und Huthis / Northern Yemen and Houthis

The Iran-backed Houthis have been seizing medicine cargos for cancer patients in Ibb governorate for several days.

The Higher Committee for Relief has demanded the United Nations organization working in Yemen to immediately intervene and release the medicines.

In a statement, the committee said that the medicine seizure risks the life of more than 3000 cancer patients in Ibb, stressing that the cancer treatment center of Ibb governorate urgently lacks medicines.

Houthis seized last week 189 assistance trucks in the eastern entry of Ibb governorate for four weeks.

Local sources told Alsahwa Net that the seized trucks carried assistances from several international relief organizations including the World Food Programme.

The sources said the Houthis refuse the delivery of assistance because they put the condition of bringing the assistance though Hodeida Airport which is run by them

The sources also said that the Houthis want to impose taxes and customs fees on assistance and reserve 30% of them for the Houthis.

The Iran-backed Houthi rebels have intensified their abduction campaigns against workers and travellers in Dhamar governorate.

Local sources affirmed told Alsahwa Net that workers are abducted in Houthi checkpoints when they are moving to other governorates to look for jobs, and only release them when their families pay ransoms.

Organization stops its activities in Ibb after Huthi's gunmen attacked its staff

A relief organization suspended its activities at Hazm Al-Odain district in the western Province of Ibb, following attacks on its relief team by militants affiliated with the Al-Houthi group.

According to local sources, CARE International has halted the distribution of humanitarian and relief aid at Hazm Al-Odain Directorate after the organization's distribution staff were severely beaten and threatened with death by Houthi leaders after refusing to hand over humanitarian aid to militants of the Houthi militia.

The suspension of the organization's activities deprived more than 1,200 families of the monthly aid they were receiving to alleviate the deteriorating economic and living conditions of the citizens.

In a letter to the governor of the Houthi authorities in Ibb, the organization confirmed that the organization's working group was assaulted with guns at the end of April at a school in the district, as well as the gunmen robbed 279 food baskets after the distribution team was trapped and shot at Al-Tawfiq school. In Hazm Al-Odain.

cp6 Südjemen und Hadi-Regierung / Southern Yemen and Hadi-government

(A P)

STC Opens New Satellite Television Service in Aden

President of the Southern Transitional Council, Major General Aidroos al-Zubaidi and his deputy sheikh Hani ben Brik inaugurated on Monday, a new satellite television service that broadcast from inside the capital Aden under the name AIC to convey the voice of the Southerners to the whole world.http://en.adenpress.news/news/4247

(A B P)

AHRAR ADEN MOVEMENT WARNS OF A NEW EMIRATI SCHEME AND CALLS FOR ITS FAILURE

The movement of Ahrar Aden considered the security chaos in Aden, which is one of the most important demonstrations of assassinations, bombings and burglary of the lands of the state and citizens by armed gangs in the city of Aden as an inevitable result of the conflict of tools due to the intersection of interests between Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

The movement revealed that Saudi-Emirati trend towards imposing the complete control on Aden and tightening the siege on its people after weakening the people of Aden and the southern provinces by provoking differences and pushing the youth in northern battles.

The movement said that the UAE had brought thousands of African mercenaries to the Bir Ahmed camp for the purpose of using them for the siege of Aden and controlling them, after the South has emptied its human strength.

Socotra’s sovereignty has been a point of conflict between the two governments before. Last year, the UAE deployed tanks and troops to Hadibo (Socotra’s capital and main port) while then-Yemen’s Prime Minister Ahmed Obeid Bin Daghar was paying a visit to the archipelago. Daghar condemned Abu Dhabi’s move and demanded that the Yemeni public voice its opposition too.

Hadi’s government took this issue to the United Nations Security Council. As a result, Abu Dhabi had to back down and announce its recognition of the archipelago as Yemen’s sovereign territory. To thwart an escalation of tension between Yemeni government forces and the Emiratis, Saudi Arabia deployed its troops to Socotra and the Emirati troops departed.

Regional Geopolitics

Although Socotra has thus far managed to escape the violent chaos that has plagued much of mainland Yemen since 2014, it remains a source of dispute among different powers struggling to assert their influence over the islands. The Emiratis’ latest escalation over Socotra also illustrates how Yemen’s political crisis is another driver of deep division within the paralyzed Gulf Cooperation Council.

The question of Socotra has also pitted Yemenis against each other. Although Hadi has had problems with past governors of Socotra who welcomed the idea of partnering with the UAE, Socotra’s sitting governor, Ramzi Mahroos, joins Hadi in staunchly opposing the UAE’s formation of armed groups on the islands.

Resisting the UAE’s “Expansionism” In May 2017, Hadi first called the UAE an “occupation power” in Yemen. This reflected how a significant number of his fellow Yemenis view the Emirati role in their civil war. In fact, before the current conflict broke out, Yemen had concerns about Abu Dhabi’s perceived quest to control shipping routes via Aden and the Bab al-Mandab (BAM).

The UAE’s actions vis-à-vis Socotra reveal much about how Abu Dhabi’s grander foreign policy strategies pit the Emirates against its close ally, Saudi Arabia. Abu Dhabi is willing to take bold actions that undermine Riyadh’s positions without regard to the Saudi desire to preserve Yemen’s unification. This power struggle, which is also playing out in Yemen’s easternmost al-Mahra governorate, will make it increasingly difficult for Saudi Arabia to maintain the semblance of even a remotely unified coalition.

Despite working with both the kingdom and Hadi’s government beginning in 2015 to fight the Houthi rebellion, the UAE’s leadership has interests in Yemen that extend beyond efforts to crush the Iran-allied Houthis – by Giorgio Cafiero

Remark: There is an error here - despite claims to the contrary in this article UAE DOES have a coastline Arabian Sea at Fujairah; recent reports this week were of four oil tankers sabotaged there for example. It is Saudi Arabia that has no access to the ArAbian Sea or Indian Ocean.

Suspicious Moves of Al-Eslah on Some Southern Borders Fronts to Serve Al-Houthis

Suspicious moves of members of Al-Eslah party, the political arm of Muslim Brotherhood in Yemen, revealed their plans to serve Al-Houthi militias in targeting southern borders fronts. Intel info indicated that Al-Eslah moves became very clear with direct orders from military commandership in Mareb to implant some trouble-making elements inside these fronts.

My comment: Southern separatists’ conspiration theories again. This is part of their strife against Islah Party, which supports the Hadi government and the unity of Yemen.

(A T)

A soldier was killed and six injured, including civilians, in a IED blast at a security site north of Aden

The IED was planted at a security site in the centre of Dar Saad district, killing one of the site's soldiers and wounding soldiers and civilians with minor injuries and later transported to the Buraihi Hospital in Al-Mansoura Directorate for treatment.

A woman was killed and three civilians were injured by an improvised explosive device in Taiz

A woman was killed and three civilians were seriously injured as a result of an improvised explosive device (IED) exploded Sunday evening in front of the National Bank near the provincial headquarters in Taiz the southwestern city.

Proxy War between Riyadh and Abu Dhabi Erupt in Conflict southern Yemen

The situation is heading to a direct military confrontation between the allies of the Emirates on one hand and he allies of Riyadh on the other, and during the past weeks. This confrontation has became more aggressive after the meeting of the pro-aggression Parliamentary members in Say'un city. Abu Dhabi's allies considered it a challenge by Hadi government for their presence in southern Yemen, in addition to the inauguration of the "Southern Alliance" supported by Riyadh in Aden, the inauguration considered by Abu Dhabi to bypass the red lines by Riyadh.

The so-called Supreme Council of the revolutionary movement, refused to deal with the so-called Transitional Council because it does not want to lose its right to represent the south. This rejection caused growing anger, which caused the return of the wave of assassinations to the city of Aden. Within one week two leaders of the Revolutionary Council were killed in the south.

Despite the assassinations of clerics and anti-coalition leaders since Abu Dhabi entered Aden in 2015, the recent assassinations were aimed at pro-Saudi parties. Gunmen targeted a leader of the Revolutionary Council supported by Riyadh in the area of Bir Fadl near the headquarters of the coalition. Killing of Mohammed Al-Qaheen came only days after the assassination of the leader of the "Revolutionary Council" also Rami Mohammed Al-Musaabi, in Mansourah city.

In the opinion of observers, the confrontations, which killed dozens of southern soldiers, caused by the differences, which widen day after day between Riyadh and Abu Dhabi, to share important sites and wealth and influence.

In the east of the skilled Yemeni protected nature reserve officially announced years ago, it is considered a World Heritage Site in Yemen.

Saudi forces, which say they support the legitimacy, headed east away from Houthi and the fronts of the fighting completely, and occupied large parts of the province of skilled, and not only put the eye on the nature reserve of Hof, and tried to enter twice met by the refusal of tribes, but insisted during the previous week and introduced Military equipment to the port of Sarfeet border with the Sultanate of Oman.

All of Hoof has risen to confront the unjustified Saudi presence.

Local authority:

Local leaders came out in demonstrations to reject the militarization of the reserve and the occupation of the port of Sarfeet, including a member of the national dialogue and a local member of Hoof Samih Ali Naseeb, who said, addressing the people of the Directorate, "We must be one class does not budge"

He added that the peaceful struggle will continue and will escalate until the full demands are achieved without a decrease and that this land, which the ancestors protected by the sabers and dangles of the daggers and will not alienate the skilled children is a national responsibility

Sheikhs and dignitaries

Was at the forefront of the demonstration that came out to denounce the presence of Saudi social figures

My remark: From Arabic, translated by Google. – From Mahrah province, southeastern Yemen. The population opposes Saudi military occupation.

And

(A P)

"Ben Afrar" warns of the continued imposition of house arrest on former Al-Mahrah governor

Abdullah bin Issa Al- Afrar, chairman of the General Council of the Sons of al-Mahhra and Socotra governorates, warned of the continued status of the former Al-Mahhrah governor Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah bin Keda under house arrest.

Ben Afrar, who leads the anti-Saudi military movement in Al-Mahra, called in an urgent appeal, a copy of which was received by Al-Masdar online, he demanded that the coalition and President Hadi lift the restrictions on the former Al-Mahrah governor, noting that the Mahrah has enough congestion.

"Al-Baydha " Parties warn the government and the coalition of the danger of failing the resistance in Thi Na’em and the Zaher

The political parties in al-Baydha province, demanded the government and the national army, immediate and urgent action to support the popular resistance in "Thi Na;em, Al-Zahir and Al- Humaiqan", which is being subjected to a fierce onslaught of Houthi militias.

This was made in a statement issued by the Parties (General People's Congress, Yemeni rally for reform”Islah”, al-Rashad Yemeni Union, Justice and Building party, and the Peace and Development Party), to which Al-Masdar online obtained a copy.

With UN and International Attendance, The Second Stage of Southern / Southern Dialogue Starts in Aden

On May 4th, 2019, the second stage of southern / southern dialogue was launched by the southern transitional council. President Aidarous Kassem Al-Zubaidi, president of the southern transitional council, Mr. Marwan Ali, director of UN Envoy to Yemen’s office, representatives of several international organizations and several representatives of political parties, southern components, activists and NGOs attended the launch. At the opening session, president Al-Zubaidi delivered a speech asserting that the council is open to all parties and all visions as long as these visions are coherent with the expectations and objectives of the southern people represented in freedom, liberation, peace and security.

cp7 UNO und Friedensgespräche / UN and peace talks

Siehe / Look at cp1b

(* B P)

School Teachers and Education staff in Ibb, central #Yemen, made serious allegations on @UNICEF_Yemen confiscating a huge part of their salaries. They are saying @UNICEF_Yemen paid them 20$ instead of 50$ they were entitled to..some claimed Unicef confiscated the whole salary

A serious investigation should be carried out

The salaries for the education sector came as a donation from Saudi and UAE and was meant to ensure teachers continue receiving the very minimum of their salaries

YEMENI PARTIES MEET IN AMMAN ON ECONOMIC PROVISIONS OF THE HUDAYDA AGREEMENT

The Office of the Special Envoy of the Secretary General for Yemen will meet the Yemeni parties in Amman on Tuesday 14 May, to discuss implementation of the economic provisions of the Hudayda Agreement reached in Sweden in December 2018.

Issues to be discussed will include the management of revenues from the ports of Hudayda, Ras Issa and Salif, and their use for the payment of public sector salaries in Hudayda governorate and throughout the country.

Comment by Hisham Al-Omeisy: It's weird that both UN and stakeholders talking more about cranes at Hudaydah port, military deployments, and who will get to control revenues, than of civilians in those areas and elsewhere. Big part of Stockholm deal was about prisoners and detainess, saving lives, no?

Yemen’s warring parties started fresh U.N.-sponsored talks in Jordan on Monday, Yemeni officials said, two days after Houthi forces began withdrawing from the ports of Hodeidah, breaking a six month stalemate.

The talks will focus on sharing out revenues from Hodeidah’s three Red Sea ports to help relieve an urgent humanitarian crisis, they said.

The Iran-aligned Houthi group began on Saturday a unilateral pullout fro

“The U.N. and its special envoy are sponsoring talks in Amman ... to discuss the issue of salaries and to make the economic situation neutral,” Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, head of the Houthis’ Supreme Revolutionary Committee, said in a tweet.

A Yemeni government official confirmed the talks to Reuters. A U.N. official said the office of U.N. envoy Martin Griffiths was facilitating the meeting.

Under the Stockholm agreement for a truce and troop withdrawal by both sides from Hodeidah, the ports’ revenues would be gathered in the Hodeidah branch of the central bank to help pay public wages.

The United Nations will help in the management of the Hodeidah ports, which will be under control of Yemen’s Red Sea Port Corporation and local coast guards, and assist in inspection of ships.

#Yemeni employees haven't received their monthly salaries from the government since October 2016. Negotiates are being held now in Jordan to discuss this topic along with other economic topics related to the current situation in #Yemen.

Film: Clip from a longer interview did with @BBCWorld late last night where tried to remind everyone that even if Hudaydah works out, only a small step in much larger peace peoces that needs to include not only Houthis and gov on table, but other factions such as Southerners.

Head of the National Committee for Prisoners Affairs Abdulqader al-Mortada said that Saudi/Emirati-led coalition and government of the exiled Hadi refused to allow the International Committee of the Red Cross, ICRC, to visit prisoners and detainees in their custody.

“This is contrary to their commitment during the second round of Amman consultations held in Jordan,” said al-Mortada on his Facebook page, noting that Sanaa was committed to the agreement and opened its prisons to the ICRC.

Al-Mortada explained that came at a request submitted by UN Envoy Office to Sanaa and to the other party to allow ICRC to visit all prisons of both parties to see the conditions of prisoners and detainees, as a step to build confidence between the parties.

“The aggression forces and their mercenaries did not allow this at all and neither ICRC nor any other organization could visit any prison of them,” al-Mortada added.

He pointed out that the coalition and Hadi’s government are not serious in implementing the prisoner exchange agreement signed in Sweden under the auspices of the United Nations on 13 December 2018.

cp8 Saudi-Arabien / Saudi Arabia

Siehe / Look at cp1

(B P)

Arresting and Torturing of Women in Saudi Prisons Continues

Alia Al-Hathloul, the sister of the arrested Saudi activist, said that "a sources close to the Saudi regime told her that all female activists would be released except for Jane because of her family's lack of silence." This reflects Saudi Arabia's transformation into a dark stage under Mohammed Bin Salman, who was not held responsible for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Lina Al-Hathul said that "the interrogators asked her sister to work for them by convincing Saudi girls who fled abroad to return to Saudi Arabia and to their families, because these girls are fans of Belgin," asserting that her sister refused. Al-Hathall pointed out that this is contrary to the principle of the independence of the judiciary, adding: "When we remained silent, Jane was subjected to the most severe torture."

The report stated that most members of the Lajin family live in Saudi Arabia and are forbidden to travel abroad, noting that they have two brothers and two sisters abroad who are publicly speaking about what happened to them. She was arrested in May 2018. Her family, activists and human rights organizations reported being subjected to torture and sexual harassment. Last Thursday, Saudi authorities released five detainees in a "temporary" manner, raising the number of women activists temporarily released to trial to eight.

The activist @alihashimS received information that the #Saudi authorities are spying on activists from #SaudiArabia in #Lebanon, including him, in order to lure and arrest them. Saudi regime bans Ali's family from travelling. Ali has been campaigning to have a family reunion.

Saudi Arabian daily, Mecca, released a 40-member-list on Friday enlisting Palestinian martyrs as terrorists. The move provoked a chorus of criticism in social media.

Among the enlisted names stand those of the founder of Hamas Sheikh Ahmad Yasin, Former Prime Minister of the Palestinian National Authority Ismail Haniyeh, Palestinian political leader and the head of the Islamic Palestinian organization Hamas Khaled Mashal, and the co-founder of the Palestinian movement Hamas Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi.

Citing a website named CEP, the Saudi Arabian newspaper claimed that the Muslim Brotherhood (Ekhvan-al-Moslemin) is in contact with terrorist groups including Al-Qaeda, ISIL, Al-Nusra, and etc.

The other names included in the list are those of the Spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, leading member of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood Sayyid Qutb, the fifth President of Egypt Mohamed Morsi, and that of the head of the Yemeni Muslim Brotherhood political movement Abdul Majeed al-Zindani.

The news piece was criticized widely in the social media. Here are some of the reactions:

The official Saudi Press Agency (SPA), citing a state security spokesperson, said the recently-formed "terrorist" cell in a Shiite minority area was preparing to carry out terror activities in the country, according to AFP.

Meanwhile, local netizens have posted alleged footage of the skirmish between terrorist suspects and Saudi security forces.

Eastern regions of Saudi Arabia are populated by a Shiite minority averse to the ruling monarchy in Riyadh. The area is prone to attacks on security forces.

According to the Saudi Gazette, security forces attacked the terrorist cell at an apartment in the Sanabis neighbourhood of the town of Tarout in Qatif, at around 10 a.m. local time on Saturday (with links to films)

Saudi security forces have killed eight people during an operation in the predominantly Shi’ite eastern Al-Qatif region, state news agency (SPA) said on Saturday.

The operation occurred on Tarout island, just off the city of Qatif, and targeted a newly formed “terrorist cell”, SPA said in a statement, adding there were no casualties among civilians or policemen.

Security forces were still at the site, it said.

Saudi security services regularly carry out operations in the area, with fatalities reported during operations in January and September, according to Saudi media.

Several political dissidents have been killed in Saudi Arabia when regime forces raided a village in the kingdom’s oil-rich and Shia-populated Eastern Province, as a crackdown led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman against pro-democracy campaigners, Muslim preachers and intellectuals continues unabated in the country.

Local sources, requesting anonymity, said security forces stormed into Sanabes village of Tarout Island on Saturday afternoon, triggering an exchange of gunfire with local residents.

The sources added that a number of distinguished opposition figures were fatally shot in the process.

Meanwhile, a former head of the American visa bureau in Saudi Arabia’s port city of Jeddah says US President Donald Trump’s administration and Congress have given the Al Saud regime the green light to press ahead with its brutal crimes, namely the ongoing atrocious military aggression against Yemen.

Michael Springmann told Press TV on Saturday evening that Saudi crude oil and the kingdom’s weapons contracts with Western countries, such as Germany and France, have pushed the West to ignore numerous violations of international humanitarian law by Riyadh.

cp9 USA

US ambassador: Those who seek to divide Yemen on the basis of religion and the region must be resisted

The outgoing U.S. ambassador to Yemen, Matthew Toller, said the unity of the Yemenis is a basic aspiration.

"Those who seek to divide Yemen, on the basis of religion, tribe, region or any other grounds, must be resisted because they do not have in their hearts the interest of the Yemeni people," Toller said in remarks published by the Yemeni embassy in Washington on Twitter.

The case for taking Trump to the Supreme Court over his Yemen war veto

The U.S. still backs Saudi Arabia's fight in Yemen, even though Congress voted to end that support. Now, progressive Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) is pushing Democratic leaders to turn to the Supreme Court to help enforce Congress' will.

"If Nancy Pelosi gets a majority behind her to bring suit, this is a moment of truth for the Supreme Court," said Yale law professor Bruce Ackerman, who's leading the charge on this legal theory.

The response: "We continue to consider all viable options to end this humanitarian crisis," Pelosi's office said.

The big question: The Supreme Court has said presidential power is "at its lowest ebb" when exercised in a way that's "incompatible with the ... will of Congress." If the House sues over Trump's Yemen veto, the central question would be whether that's what happened here, said Scott Anderson, a Brookings fellow and former State Department lawyer.

Ackerman says it obviously is. Trump's veto "defied fundamental principles of constitutional law," he and 12 other law professors wrote in a letter to Pelosi.

On May 15, weapons-maker Northrop Grumman will face a resolution, brought forward by shareholders, that calls for the company to report on how it implements its human rights policy. This move comes after a year of human rights scandals for the company, from providing services (such as maintenance and training) to Saudi security forces involved in controversial bombings in Yemen, to allegations of racial discriminationand defrauding the U.S. government, to selling technology used in surveilling U.S. residents in the immigration context. Now, three congregations of Catholic Sisters have brought forward a resolution asking for a report documenting “Northrop Grumman’s management systems and processes to implement its Human Rights Policy.” Northrop’s human rights policy declares the company has a “strong commitment to human rights” as laid out in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights. It is not clear on how it implements that commitment, however.

The 2020 Candidates Aren’t Talking About Foreign Policy. They Need to Start.

The United States caused many of the planet’s problems and can still unmake them—but only if its politicians face up to the challenge.

The final impact the growing perception of American indifference has had is to signal to various U.S. proxies—countries like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which enjoy generous U.S. military backing—that they can pursue their own narrow objectives without getting permission from Washington first, as they might have done in the past. Among other things, that shift explains the catastrophic Saudi and Emirati intervention in Yemen’s civil war; their support (along with Egypt) for the aspiring Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar, who is now trying to bomb Tripoli into submission; and other ugly little struggles underwritten by American funds and guns.

As the media focuses on the Mueller report and Attorney General William Barr, the Trump administration has been especially hawkish in their foreign policy.

It seems the Trump administration is trying to provoke Iran into attacking the US, putting US military personnel in unnecessary risk and potentially starting a war that could be as disastrous as the Iraq war.

The outrage has since faded over the school bus bombing and the Khashoggi murder, and the Mueller report has taken over the headlines.

With all of these lies and deceptions that led our country into wars, why isn’t there more outrage among Americans to stop them? There are a few activist groups like CODEPINK and Veterans for Peace but there are almost no antiwar voices in the mainstream media.

We urge you to cancel your astonishing May 14th event “celebrating tolerance” with the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates. The UAE is a brutal monarchy with a bloody record of human rights violations, repression at home, and support for anti-democratic forces abroad. The ADL event in question is scheduled for this Tuesday, May 14th, at 2:30 PM, in your offices in Washington DC.

This joint ADL / UAE event shockingly confers human rights legitimacy to a brutal monarchy that bears responsibility for the deaths of thousands. We call on the ADL to cancel this event until the UAE’s rulers end their extraordinary violations of human rights.

(B P) The USA is surrounding Iran from all directions and has tens of thousands of troops stationed in the region. But if it destroys Iran, it will risk losing the only pretext left for it to keep milking GCC. What it is currently doing in the region is all about deal of the century.

cp10 Großbritannien / Great Britain

(* A K P)

SAUDIS DO USE RONALDSWAY AIRPORT - CONFIRMED!

The Ministry of Defence (Air Command Secretariat) have responded to our query about Royal Saudi Air Force personnel trained at RAF Valley (and associated matters) who use facilities at Ronaldsway Civil Airport on the Isle of Mann.

The letter from MOD (Air Command Secretariat) confirms that RSAF personnel have been trained at Valley airbase on Anglesey for the past decade under ‘the Ministry of Defence Saudi Armed Forces Project’. It says:

“The RAF utilises several local airfields within the vicinity of RAF Valley , including civilian airfields on the Isle of Man to practice visual approaches and departures, as the procedure for take-off and landing differs at civilian airfields differs from the procedures used at military airfields. International trainee pilots conduct the same training as their RAF colleagues and none are limited in their use of local airfields for training.”

The Air Command secretariat also confirm that a number of RAF personnel have been deployed to Saudi Arabia in the last six years who had previously been based at RAF Valley.

It says it is unable to supply detail on the civilian contractors issue we queried.

Voice of the Mirror: 'Innocent children are being slaughtered in Yemen'

'The terrible conflict in Yemen is shameful for Theresa May’s Tories – because Britain is arming the Saudi-led coalition'

Innocent children are being needlessly slaughtered in what the United Nations has warned is now the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.

And today’s shocking Mirror report on the terrible conflict in Yemen is shameful for Theresa May’s Tories – because Britain is arming the Saudi-led coalition guilty of indiscriminate bombing and imposing a blockade that condems trapped civilians to death.

The Prime Minister will not shake off Jeremy Corbyn’s accusation that she is complicit in this bloodshed while she continues to support, and sell weapons to, the Saudi dictatorship.

Nobody is under the illusion that resolving the bitter conflict will be easy. But Britain should be on the side of peace and justice.

cp12 Andere Länder / Other countries

(* B P)

Saudi Arabia’s hold on Pakistan

Executive Summary

Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have had a close relationship through the decades, during both Pakistan’s military and civilian regimes. Saudi Arabia has offered generous economic assistance to Pakistan, and the two countries have cooperated on defense matters.

Since the 1970s, Saudi Arabia has exercised enormous influence on Pakistan behind the scenes through its funding of Ahl-e-Hadith and Deobandi madrassas (religious seminaries), which teach a more puritanical version of Islam than had traditionally been practiced in Pakistan. While the funding is not directly traceable, scholars and analysts report that much of this funding to madrassas comes from private sources in Saudi Arabia. Central to this is the flow of Saudi money to madrassas that trained the Afghan mujahedeen in the 1980s, but the funding both predated and outlasted the Afghan jihad.

The Saudi funding of Pakistan’s madrassas derives from Saudi Arabia’s anti-Iran ambitions and its bid to control the version of Islam, and specifically Sunni Islam, taught and practiced in Pakistan.

Two historic events in 1979—the Islamic revolution in Iran, and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan—increased Saudi influence in Pakistan thereafter. The Iranian revolution bolstered Saudi incentives to control Sunnism in Pakistan, and the Soviet-Afghan war gave the Saudis a mechanism to do so, through the funding of madrassas.

While the Saudi-Pakistan relationship is certainly durable, it has not been unconditional. In a surprising move, in April 2015, soon after receiving a $1.5 billion Saudi loan, Pakistan’s parliament voted overwhelmingly to stay neutral in the Saudi intervention in Yemen against the Houthis.

The bottom line: Saudi Arabia has succeeded in changing the character of Pakistan’s religiosity in a bid to expand its influence in the Muslim world, and in its mission to counter Iran. Yet Saudi influence has its limits—Pakistan is skillful at balancing its relationships between Iran and Saudi Arabia, and while its relationship with the latter is on balance the stronger one, it still manages to “wriggle free” of having to overtly pick sides in the Iran-Saudi dispute – by Madiha Afzal

Bahrain Court Upholds Death Sentences Against Two Anti-Regime Activists

On Sunday, the defendants, identified as Zuhair Ibrahim Jassem and Mohammad Mahdi, were sentenced to death by the Court of Cassation, after the court relied on statements extracted under torture, the Arabic-language Lualua television network reported.

Belgian leaders are mulling the suspension of arms sales to Saudi Arabia, national broadcaster RTBF has said, after it was reported they had been used in Yemen.

Foreign Minister Didier Reynders told RTBF on Saturday: "I think it would be good to suspend arms deliveries to Saudi Arabia" if it were shown they had been used "in an ongoing conflict, such as in Yemen", in which case, he said the regional Walloon Government "must" take that decision.

Belgium's constitution places responsibility for such decisions on the producer region, in this case Wallonia, which owns the arms manufacturer FN Herstal.

Regional president Willy Borsus told RTBF it "could go as far as suspending existing arms export licences" if conditions under which they were granted had been violated.

Belgian newspaper Le Soir said on Wednesday an investigation showed Riyadh had used Belgian arms and technology in operations against Houthi rebels in Yemen

Last Friday, members of Mouvement Québécois pour la Paix interrupted a $135-a-plate luncheon to confront defence minister Harjit Sajjan. At the event sponsored by SNC Lavalin, Bombardier, Rio Tinto, etc., we called for cutting military spending, for Canada to withdraw from NATO and an end to weapons sales to Saudi Arabia.

While Sajjan’s responsibility for NATO and military spending are straightforward, his role in fueling the Saudi led war in Yemen is less obvious. But, the Department of National Defence (DND) plays a substantial role in Canadian arms exports to Saudi Arabia and elsewhere.

As he did the last three years, Sajjan is set to speak at the CANSEC arms bazar in Ottawa later this month.

The corporation supplying Saudi Arabia with more than $10 billion in Light Armoured Vehicles produces the same LAVs for the CF.

Beyond contracts, subsidies and various other forms of support to Canadian weapons makers, DND has long promoted arms exports. Its website highlights different forms of support to arms exporters. “Learn how the Department of National Defence can assist in connecting Canadian industry to foreign markets”, explains one section.

Based in 30 diplomatic posts around the world (with cross-accreditation to many neighbouring countries), Canadian Defence Attachés promote military exports.

Representatives of DND often talk up Canadian military equipment as part of delegations to international arms fairs such as the UK’s Defence Security and Equipment International exhibition.

Harjit Sajjan heads a ministry intimately tied to a globally oriented corporate weapons industry that profits from war. Is this something Canadians understand and support? Or would the majority of us be upset to learn their Minister of Defence is an arms pusher, promoting sales to anti-democratic, repressive regimes? – by Yves Engler

A Saudi ship that was blocked from loading a weapons cargo in France left the Spanish port of Santander on Monday carrying material destined for Saudi Arabia that could be used in military ceremonies, but not wars, a Spanish government source said.

cp13c Wirtschaft / Economy

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An alarming statement, attributed to the Federation of #Yemen Chambers of Commerce & Industry, warns that using economy as a tool to make political/ military gains has brought disastrous consequences for the private sector and aggravated the humanitarian crisis.

The central bank approves the provision of cash liquidity for the same amount of credit in banks in the Houthi and Legitimacy areas

The Houthi militia and the legitimate government have already exchanged accusations and threats, targeting the banking sector, the bank and major merchants.

The Economic Committee of the Government, “recognized” earlier this month, accused the militia of preventing the banks from exercising their functions or benefiting from the privileges and opportunities offered by the central Bank of Aden, as well as imprisoning the employees in the economic sector and their relatives.

According to the Economic Committee of the Houthis in Sana'a, government steps are targeting the sector, doubling the arbitrary and unjust restrictions on the importation of essential goods, and continuing to target the telecommunications sector, calling for a response in effective and disturbing ways to the government and its supporting coalition.

Aden containers station seen 10% increase in the a average of the containers businesses activity in the first quarter of this year compared with the same period of last year. Gulf of Aden Seaports Corporate reported that total number of the containers the dock received in the first quarter this year is 140 thousand and 975 containers. Meanwhile the number of the ships which docked in the station is 58.

Sri Lankan authorities have arrested a Saudi-educated scholar for what they claim are links with Zahran Hashim, the suspected ringleader of the Easter Sunday bombings, throwing a spotlight on the rising influence of Salafi-Wahhabi Islam on the island’s Muslims.

Mohamed Aliyar, 60, is the founder of the Centre for Islamic Guidance, which boasts a mosque, a religious school and a library in Zahran’s hometown of Kattankudy, a Muslim-dominated city on Sri Lanka’s eastern shores.

“Information has been revealed that the suspect arrested had a close relationship with ... Zahran and had been operating financial transactions,” said a police statement late on Friday.

The statement said Aliyar was “involved” with training in the southern town of Hambantota for the group of suicide bombers who attacked hotels and churches on Easter, killing over 250 people.

cp15 Propaganda

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Yemen: Houthis Accused of Starving Yemenis

The militias continue to elude and delay the implementation of the Stockholm Agreement, stated Coalition Spokesman Colonel Turki al-Maliki. Maliki revealed that last Thursday Houthis targeted the Red Sea Mills in Hodeidah, which contains large quantities of wheat, in a deliberate attempt to starve the Yemeni people and prevent the arrival of humanitarian aid to the needy in several areas. In two weeks, Houthi militias lost 232 equipment and positions, while 652 terrorist elements were killed during the same period. Maliki said the joint forces and the Yemeni National Army are adopting tactical self-restraint over Houthi violations of the Stockholm agreement to ensure the success of efforts of UN envoy to Yemen Martin Griffith and head of the Committee for the Coordination of Redeployment, Lieutenant General Michael Lollesgaard.

Don’t believe for one minute that occupiers of Hodeida port have had a change of heart

It’s one thing for the Al Houthis to say they are withdrawing, it is another when it comes to the reality on the ground.

Until such a time there is a verifiable process in place on the ground, the pledge to withdraw is not worth the paper it’s written on. Indeed, until such a time when Hodeida is handed over and safely in the hands of coastguard force — and the withdrawal has been verified and witnessed by the UN — it would be most prudent to consider Al Houthi forces in place and, sadly, with the ability to interfere with the delivery of humanitarian aid as the rebels have done in the past.

The rebels simply can’t be trusted — and doing so would be highly imprudent.

Ten Houthi militiamen were killed and several others injured on Sunday in air strikes by Arab coalition in Sa’ada province, north of the country. The air strikes targeted militia’s gatherings and movements in Om-Alreah area near the center district of Kitaf.

The Ministry of Health and Population said on Saturday that the death toll from Saudi-led air strike on civilians’ homes in Qatabah district of Dhalea province has risen to 24 dead and wounded, mostly women and children.

“At least six children and a woman were killed, and 11others children and five women, including one pregnant woman and a man were wounded in Saudi-led air strike on civilians’ homes in Qatabah district of Dhalea province, “the ministry said in a statement.

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Houthi-run TV says Yemeni group targeted vital Saudi installations

A television station run by Yemen’s Houthi group said on Tuesday the Iran-aligned movement had launched drone attacks on vital Saudi installations, without identifying the targets or saying when the attacks occurred.

MASAM, the Saudi Project for Landmines Clearance in Yemen, has announced it had eliminated 1,024 mines and unexploded ordnance planted by Houthi militia in a number of liberated areas during the second week of May.

The field teams have removed 6,820 mines and unexploded ordnance since the beginning of this month which add up to 70539 since the project started its mission in last June, Osama-Al-Kosaibi said.

After fierce fights against Al-Houthis, the southern resistance troops write a new history in Kataba as Al-Houthis suffered massive loses in Al-Abari, Hubil Mushia and Al-Ribi, west of Kataba. Hails of victory are heard everywhere in Kataba streets after fierce street clashes leading to tens of killings and injuries among Al-Houthis in addition to captives. Southern resistance, with backup of artilary, rocket launchers, armory and Arab Coalition air forces, are now inspecting every place in Kataba to secure the city.

Sporadic clashes between government forces and Huthi fighters continue in the southern Yemeni province of al-Dali amid a major exodus from Qa’tabbah northern of the province.

According to field sources, violent confrontations between government forces and Houthi militia have been sporadic in a number of neighbourhoods and streets of the city of Qa’tabbah after the Houthi militia took control of the northern and western parts of the town.

A woman, Zahra Hamemed Ali, was shot dead by a Houthi sniper in the village of "Thi Ali" in Al-Azareq distric

cp18 Sonstiges / Other

According to the Biblical account, swarms of locusts are a harbinger of the Apocalypse. While UN agencies say a recent invasion of locusts in the Middle East was caused by heavy rains and cyclones, scaremongers claim it is all part of God's design.

If Iran duplicates its formula from Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen by sending long-range missiles to Iraq, then future conflicts with Israel would likely include military action on Iraqi soil.

Iran’s long-range rockets and missiles allow it to threaten enemy forces and populations hundreds of kilometers away, while proxy warfare enables it to indirectly harass and deter these enemies with minimal risk of confrontation on Iranian territory. In recent years, Tehran has combined these strategies to great effect in Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen. There are signs that Iraq may be the next theater for this approach—signs that were evident well before the latest U.S. military deployments to the region and meetings with Iraqi leaders. If so, such a scenario would threaten Iraq’s hopes for a peaceful future and its relations with the United States – by Michael Knights and Assaf Orion

My comment: Just another example of US interference and threats to another country. If Iran deploys missiles in Iraq (as far as the Iraqi government agrees) this is not up to the US – exactly as the case when the US would deploy missiles in Canada is not up to Iran.

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Iran Commander: US Military in Gulf a Target Not a Threat

A senior Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander said on Sunday the U.S. military presence in the Gulf used to be a serious threat but now represents a target, the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA) reported.

The U.S. military has sent forces, including an aircraft carrier and B-52 bombers, to the Middle East in a move that U.S. officials said was made to counter "clear indications" of threats from Iran to American forces in the region.

"An aircraft carrier that has at least 40 to 50 planes on it and 6,000 forces gathered within it was a serious threat for us in the past but now it is a target and the threats have switched to opportunities," said Amirali Hajizadeh, head of the Guards' aerospace division.

"If (the Americans) make a move, we will hit them in the head," he added, according to ISNA.

Iranian navy commander Rear Admiral Hossein Khanzadi said on Sunday that American forces must exit, according to ISNA. "The presence of the Americans in the Persian Gulf region has reached its end and they must leave the region," Khanzadi said.

Missiles On Ships: Making Sense Of Iran’s Recent Moves In The Gulf – Analysis

Yet again, there is a dramatic rise in tension in the Middle East, and, yet again, missiles are at the heart of it.

Fears that Iran could respond to crippling sanctions against its oil and finance sector with military force, either by itself or through proxies, are not entirely new.

On May 8, CNN reported that Iran was loading short-range ballistic missiles on boats. According to U.S. government sources, this move was one of the “critical reasons the U.S. decided to move an aircraft carrier strike group and B-52 bombers into the region.”

If these reports are, indeed, accurate, then it worth asking what are Iranian ballistic missiles doing on ships?

My comment: Of course, this question could be asked. Ask another one: What are US warships doing in the Persian Gulf?

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John Bolton's Middle East War Plans

This is how Donald Trump's national security advisor could cost him the votes he needs to stay in office.

National Security Advisor John Bolton, aided by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, is doing everything possible to instigate a war with Iran. Naked aggression as a means of starting such a war may be too much for even Bolton to pull off, so the strategy has been to try to pressure and goad Iran into doing something—anything—that could be construed as a casus belli. So far, no doubt to Bolton’s frustration, Iran has exercised remarkable restraint in the face of unrelenting and escalating hostility from the Trump administration. Iran even continues to comply with its obligations under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)

But Bolton keeps searching for still more ways to goad and to pressure.

One of the most recent ways is a twist on the ever-expanding U.S. sanctions against Iran, the main effects of which so far have been to make life for ordinary Iranians more uncomfortable and to poison relations with U.S. allies and other states doing ordinary business with Iran – by Paul Pillar

Presence of US warships in the Persian Gulf waters is just psychological warfare, said a member of the Iranian parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, conforming that the Americans know that they cannot afford a military confrontation with Iran.

As US forces arrive in Middle East, Pentagon announces more deployments

US bombers have arrived in Qatar, CENTCOM announced on Friday, as it released pictures of the planes, as well as US naval forces headed toward Iran.

CENTCOM revealed that two B-52 H Stratofortress bombers landed Thursday night at Al-Udeid Air Force base in Qatar. Others arrived Wednesday in “southwest Asia,” the Air Force said. The US has previously described both Al-Udeid and Al Dhafra Air Base in the UAE as “southwest Asia” locations.

The US Navy similarly released photos of the USS Abraham Carrier Strike Group transiting the Suez Canal on Thursday.

In addition, on Friday, the Pentagon announced it was sending more forces to the region, including an amphibious assault ship and a Patriot missile battery (photos)

It only took a few months under Donald Trump’s presidency for the US to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement, impose new sanctions on Russia, reverse the normalisation of diplomatic relations with Cuba, announce its intention to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal, warn Pakistan, threaten Venezuela with military intervention, and declare a readiness to strike North Korea with ‘fire and fury … the likes of which this world has never seen before.’ The Philippines, Saudi Arabia and Israel are the only countries on better terms with the US since Trump’s arrival in the White House on 20 January.

Trump is not solely responsible for this increased tension: Republican neoconservatives, Democrats and the media all applauded him this spring when he ordered military manoeuvres in Asia and the launch of 59 missiles towards an air base in Syria (1) – by Serge Halimi

Yet even without these movements, the U.S. has maintained a vast network of bases across the Persian Gulf dating back to the 1991 Gulf War against Iraq. Allied Gulf Arab nations, many rich from oil reserves, equip their own forces with billions of dollars of American arms as well.

Here’s what military assets the U.S. has across the Persian Gulf, those it is now bringing in, and why America has maintained its long presence in the region.

U.S. BASES, PERSONNEL IN THE REGION

The Persian Gulf hosts a series of major American military installations.

The U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet, which oversees the region, is based in Bahrain

U.S. PRESENCE FROM THE CARTER DOCTRINE TO THE WAR YEARS

During the Cold War, the U.S. pledged to defend its Persian Gulf allies from the Soviet Union. By the start of 1980, however, the region was in turmoil.

But what would cement the U.S. presence in the region came in 1990, when Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein invaded his oil-rich neighbor Kuwait.

THE VIEW FROM IRAN

Iran’s Shiite theocracy long has looked at the presence of U.S. forces ringing its country with suspicion.

U.S. Energy Department says oil markets well supplied after attack on ships off UAE

The U.S. Energy Department said on Monday that global oil markets are well supplied despite the attack on Sunday that damaged four vessels off the UAE coast, two of them oil tankers from Saudi Arabia.

“The Department of Energy is aware of efforts to disrupt oil shipping as reported by the governments of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates,” said Shaylyn Hynes, DOE press secretary, about the attack near Fujairah emirate,

My comment: US wording shows that all this perfectly fits into US war preparations.

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The UAE has appealed to Int'l community to protect waterways after 4 tankers were sabotaged in its territorial waters. Yemenis now ask: why doesn't this rogue state protect its territorial waters instead of destabilising & showing off in Yemeni regions, including Socotra island?!

The Latest on alleged sabotage of ships off the coast of the United Arab Emirates (all times local):

12:45 p.m.

The head of the Arab League has condemned attacks that targeted vessels off the coast of the United Arab Emirates the previous day, including two Saudi oil tankers, as “criminal acts.”

Ahmed Aboul-Gheit said in a statement on Monday that these acts are a “serious violation of the freedom and integrity of trade and maritime transport routes.”

He says the Arab League stands by the UAE and Saudi Arabia “in all measures taken to safeguard their security and interests.”

11:40 a.m.

Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry is condemning “acts of sabotage” that targeted two of its oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman near the coast of the United Arab Emirates.

9:10 a.m.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry is calling for clarification about what happened with two Saudi oil tankers that the kingdom said were targeted in a “sabotage attack” off the coast of the United Arab Emirates.

The U.S. Issues a Warning Amid Reports of Ships Being Sabotaged off the UAE Coast

Emirati officials have declined to elaborate on the nature of the sabotage or say who might have been responsible. However, the reports come as the U.S. has warned ships that “Iran or its proxies” could be targeting maritime traffic in the region, and as America is deploying an aircraft carrier and B-52 bombers to the Persian Gulf to counter alleged threats from Tehran.

Underling the regional risk, the general-secretary of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council described the alleged sabotage as a “serious escalation” in an overnight statement.

“Such irresponsible acts will increase tension and conflicts in the region and expose its peoples to great danger,” Abdullatif bin Rashid al-Zayani said. Bahrain, Egypt and Yemen’s internationally recognized government similarly condemned the alleged sabotage.

Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said on Monday that two Saudi oil tankers were targeted on Sunday in “a sabotage attack” off the coast of Fujairah, part of the United Arab Emirates, threatening the security of global oil supplies.

One of the two vessels was on its way to be loaded with Saudi crude oil from the port of Ras Tanura, to be delivered to state-owned oil company Saudi Aramco’s customers in the United States, Falih said in a statement carried by state news agency SPA.

The attack did not lead to any casualties or an oil spill but caused significant damage to the structures of the two vessels, he added.

On Sunday, the UAE foreign ministry said four commercial vessels were targeted by “sabotage operations” near the territorial waters of the United Arab Emirates without causing casualties. It gave no details of the nature of the sabotage.

My comment: Iran is not named here, but this looks like a further act of the US war game against Iran.

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Saudi Arabia says its oil tankers among those hit off UAE coast

Saudi Arabia said on Monday that two of its oil tankers were among those attacked off the coast of the United Arab Emirates and described it as an attempt to undermine the security of crude supplies amid tensions between the United States and Iran.

The UAE said on Sunday that four commercial vessels were sabotaged near Fujairah emirate, one of the world’s largest bunkering hubs lying just outside the Strait of Hormuz. It did not describe the nature of the attack or say who was behind it.

The UAE had not given the nationalities or other details about the ownership of the four vessels. Riyadh has identified two of them as Saudi and a Norwegian company said it owned another. Reuters images showed the fourth vessel was the UAE-flagged A. Michel, a fuel bunker barge.

Thome Ship Management said its Norwegian-registered oil products tanker MT Andrew Victory was “struck by an unknown object”. Footage seen by Reuters showed a hole in the hull at the waterline with the metal torn open inwards.

A Reuters witness said divers were inspecting the damaged ships on Monday.

Iran, which is embroiled in an escalating war of words with the United States over sanctions and the U.S. military’s presence in the region, moved to distance itself on Monday.

Four commercial ships subjected to sabotage operations near UAE territorial waters, no fatalities or injuries reported

Four commercial ships were subjected to sabotage operations today, 12th May, near UAE territorial waters in the Gulf of Oman, east of Fujairah, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, MOFAIC, has announced.

The Ministry said that the concerned authorities have taken all necessary measures, and are investigating the incident in cooperation with local and international bodies.

It said that there had been no injuries or fatalities on board the vessels and that there had been no spillage of harmful chemicals or fuel.